Jonah and the whale

Cultural  

1. A story in the Old Testament; Jonah was an Israelite whom God had called to be a prophet but who refused to accept his divine mission and left on a sea voyage instead. God then raised a great storm as a sign of his anger with Jonah. The sailors, realizing that Jonah's disobedience had caused the storm, threw him overboard in an attempt to save their ship. Jonah was saved from drowning when he was swallowed by a “great fish.” He lived for three days inside the creature, after which the fish “vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” Thankful that his life had been spared, Jonah took up his prophetic mission.

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Example Sentences

Constantly curious, Moss started asking thorny questions about biblical tales like the story of Jonah and the whale.

From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2024

That eagerness to appease could explain Donald Sutherland’s performance as Father Mapple, the preacher who delivers his homily about Jonah and the whale from a pulpit shaped like a ship’s prow.

From New York Times • Jul. 31, 2011

One early mosaic shows Christ dressed as the Sun God; another tells the story of Jonah and the whale.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2010

It has become the coexistence of Jonah and the whale that swallowed him .

From Time Magazine Archive

Jonah Historically Regarded Reference was made to the historical story of Jonah and the whale in the preceding chapter.

From Moby Dick: or, the White Whale by Melville, Herman